The present invention relates to imaging and, more particularly, to method, device and system for obtaining and analyzing thermographic images.
The use of imaging in diagnostic medicine dates back to the early 1900s. Presently there are numerous different imaging modalities at the disposal of a physician allowing imaging of hard and soft tissues and characterization of both normal and pathological tissues.
Infra red imaging is utilized for characterizing a thermally distinguishable site in a human body for the purposes of identifying inflammation. Infrared cameras produce two-dimensional images known as thermographic images. A thermographic image is typically obtained by receiving from the body of the subject radiation at any one of several infrared wavelength ranges and analyzing the radiation to provide a two-dimensional temperature map of the surface. The thermographic image can be in the form of either or both of a visual image and corresponding temperature data. The output from infrared cameras used for infrared thermography typically provides an image comprising a plurality of pixel data points, each pixel providing temperature information which is visually displayed, using a color code or grayscale code. The temperature information can be further processed by computer software to generate for example, mean temperature for the image, or a discrete area of the image, by averaging temperature data associated with all the pixels or a sub-collection thereof.
Based on the thermographic image, a physician diagnoses the site, and determines, for example, whether or not the site includes an inflammation while relying heavily on experience and intuition.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,072,504 discloses an approach which utilizes two infrared cameras (left and right) in combination with two visible light cameras (left and right). The infrared cameras are used to provide a three-dimensional thermographic image and the visible light cameras are used to provide a three-dimensional visible light image. The three-dimensional thermographic and three-dimensional visible light images are displayed to the user in an overlapping manner.
Also of interest is U.S. Pat. No. 6,442,419 disclosing a scanning system including an infrared detecting mechanism which performs a 360° data extraction from an object, and a signal decoding mechanism, which receives electrical signal from the infrared detecting mechanism and integrates the signal into data of a three-dimensional profile curved surface and a corresponding temperature distribution of the object.
International Patent Publication No. 2006/003658, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference, discloses a system which includes non-thermographic image data acquisition functionality and thermographic image data acquisition functionality. The non-thermographic image data acquisition functionality acquires non-thermographic image data, and the thermographic image data acquisition functionality acquires thermographic image data.
There is a widely recognized need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have a method, device and system for obtaining and analyzing thermographic images.